PATNA, Dec. 28 -- Law and order has always been a sad feature of Bihar. When polls are contested, the crime becomes a poll issue, often becoming a weapon of the opposition campaign. The year 2025 was no different: it saw a series of violent crimes, and it was an issue that was cacophonous in speeches of political leaders across both the spectrums. In a sensational case, Bihar's prominent Industrialist Gopal Khemka was shot dead outside his residence in Patna on July 4 around 11 pm. The incident, which sent shockwaves through the poll-bound state, sparked a political uproar with the opposition targeting the Nitish Kumar-led government over deteriorating law and order. Police later arrested two persons including Ashok Shah, a fellow businessman reportedly involved in a conflict with Khemka over land worth crores of rupees. Shah had allegedly hired contract killer Umesh Rai for Rs.4 lakh. Rai's associate Vikas was killed in a police encounter. In another shocking high-profile murder, gangster Chandan Mishra, who was admitted in a private Patna hospital, was shot dead by five assailants in the ICU room of the hospital on July 17. All five were caught on CCTV. The footage went viral, with one of the attackers, Tauseef alias Badshah, being seen striding towards the room with non-chalance. He was later arrested from Kolkata. His cousin, Nishu Khan, also a known outlaw was also arrested, with other shooters. They all purportedly worked for jailed Omkarnath Singh alias Sheru Singh, who was once an associate of Mishra and had fallen out later. He is lodged in Purulia jail, West Bengal. On November 1, a week before election, former MLA and Janata Dal (United) leader Anant Singh and two of his aides were arrested in connection with the murder of a prominent figure in Mokama's political and social field, known both for his influence and his controversial past, Dularchand Yadav, 75, in rural Patna. Dularchand was killed on Oct 30 while campaigning for a Jan Suraaj candidate in Mokama's Ghoswari police station area. The deceased (Dularchand) had a gunshot injury in his leg. As per the post-mortem report, he was murdered. The bullet has not been recovered because the postmortem report showed there was an entry wound and an exit wound. Earlier in the year on April 17, the then Danapur legislator Ritlal Yadav of the RJD, for whom police claimed to have launched a manhunt for the last three days, walked into the Danapur court with his four accomplices and surrendered. Ritlal is the second bahubali politician after former Mokama MLA Anant Singh to surrender in the court before the police could catch him. He was accused of threatening a Patna-based builder to pay Rs.50 lakh. In 2025, till December 15, there were 29 encounters with Maoists/criminals in which six criminals (five with reward on head) and a Maoist carrying a price of Rs.1 lakh on his head Ramesh Tuddu alias Tutua of Banka were killed. A carbine with silencer, magazine, live cartridges were recovered from Tuddu's possession. Six criminals identified as Sushil Mochi alias Sushil Ram (Purnea), Manish Kumar Yadav, Chunmun Jha alias Rakesh (Araria), Gurudeo alias Sanoj Kumar Mandal (Navgachhia) Dabloo Yadav (Begusarai) and Arvind Sahni (Belsand) were killed in the encounter, while 27 sustained injuries. In a drive against Maoists to make Bihar completely free from left-wing extremism, Bihar STF arrested 220 Naxals involved in separate incidents and recovered 37 firearms, 2166 live cartridges and 168 detonators from their possession. The STF also arrested 1,596 criminals, including 138 with rewards on heads. The STF recovered 14,498 live cartridges, 1,007 kgs narcotics, 51kgs Opium, six kgs Heroin, 26kgs Charas and Rs.4.64 crore cash. With rising cases of cybercrime, investigations were conducted into 103 cyber incidents, with actions taken based on technical evidence. DGP Vinay Kumar said that from January to November this year, 335,116 criminals have been arrested in serious cases such as murder, robbery, theft, SC-ST offences, and rape. A special unit will soon be formed to control the rapidly increasing cases of cybercrime in the state, which will be overseen by an officer of ADG rank. Bihar is among the few states where cyber police stations are operational in all districts. A total of 24.38 lakh cyber related complaint calls have been received on NCRP helpline portal till Dec 15, 2025, he said while adding that 1.10 lakh online complaints and 24,100 online complaints relating to other cybercrimes have been reported on NCRP portal this year. Cracking down on corruption, the vigilance investigation bureau (VIB) has registered cases against 118 govt officials since Jan this year - averaging one public servant booked every three to four days for either accepting bribes or abusing their position. Of the 97th trap cases, 106 government employees were caught red-handed red-handed taking bribes, and they were sent to jail on the order of the special vigilance court. The money recovered from these trap cases was Rs.37.05 lakh. "Under the zero tolerance policy of the government, the campaign against corrupt officials is a sustained process. If a complaint about the demand of bribe made by any official or any personnel is received, it is immediately verified, following which action is taken," said DG VIB Jitendra Singh Gangwar, adding that in 2025 so far, conviction has been pronounced in 25 cases , which is highest in last 25 years. In 2024 which was the next highest, only 18 cases were convicted. Besides VIB, the Economic Offence Unit of Bihar police and the special vigilance unit (SVU) of state government also took action against the corrupt officers and registered DA cases against the officials....